Exclusive interview: The world according to Joey Barton

Exclusive interview: The world according to Joey Barton

Exclusive interview: The world according to Joey Barton

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Joey Barton

Barton: 'I might play until I'm 40 as my game is not based on pace or power, it's all about knowledge of football and manipulating the ball'

Barton: 'I might play until I'm 40 as my game is not based on pace or power, it's all about knowledge of football and manipulating the ball'

Joey Barton has long been characterised as the problem child of English football: ­undeniably talented, yet flawed to the brink of ­self-destruction.

In 2008, Barton served 77 days in prison for a drunken assault and, in his youth, was synonymous with violence and skirmishes with authority.

But three years on, the new Queens Park Rangers captain has drawn on his influences - Morrissey, Banksy and Friedrich Nietzsche - to project the image of a reformed man.

"People should embrace the fact they're individual," Barton tells me. "I can't think of anything more morose than being the same as everybody else. What would we get out of that? I embrace that I'm peculiar and refuse to conform.

"People can be influenced by the wrong people and, for a time, I probably was. But I've really tried to change my ways. It's a daily battle but I'm happy with the man that I am."

The new Joey Barton is far removed from his notorious bad-boy persona. He is still not afraid to speak his mind - only last week he called Wolves midfielder Karl Henry a 'Sunday League Player' - but the QPR man is now keen to reveal a side of his personality most had assumed didn't exist.

Snippets of his reformation have been aired through his Twitter account but in our hour-long interview Barton delves much deeper into his ­philosophies.

"Morrissey had a massive influence on me growing up," says Barton, who was introduced to his idol backstage at this year's Glastonbury.

"He is a fellow free-speaker and I got on really well with him. He's the same as all of us but just so happens to be fantastically talented at writing song lyrics. He's a good man who's really misunderstood for things he's said and done. They say never meet your heroes but he went up massively in my estimations. He's a really charming man - if you'll excuse the pun."

As a 13-year-old living on a council estate in the suburbs of Liverpool, Barton was introduced to the music of The Smiths - and many other bands - by his father's youngest brother, Tom, who is only 10 years older than Joey.

"I grew up around music. Our Tom had a great collection on vinyl and CD. He had all the early Oasis stuff, Primal Scream, The La's, Paul Weller, Nirvana, Ocean Colour Scene. But Tom was a huge Smiths fan - he had the massive Morrissey quiff and dressed just like him.

"He was more influenced by ­Morrissey than me and actually met him with me at Glastonbury. He had a wonderful taste in music and I picked up on that."

So, is Barton's uber-trendy new quiff a tribute to his hero?

"I just wanted to be a little bit different - I always have - so I got it under-cut on both sides," he reveals. "I think I look more like Travis Bickle [Robert De Niro's character in Taxi Driver] than Morrissey. But I'll take that as a compliment - he's quite a good looking man."

Since his move to London earlier this month, Barton has quenched his thirst for the creative by abandoning his car in favour of the underground.

"I like to jump on the tube but I haven't got an Oyster card yet," says Barton, whose long-term girlfriend, Georgia McNeil, is expecting their first child.

"I'm not a big fan of driving so once I get the internet set up at my new place I'll order my Oyster card and get going properly on the buses and the underground.

"I'm not attracted by the bright lights of the city but there are things in this place I want to do to broaden my horizons. I was in Soho the other day and there's loads of characters around there. I like people-watching and was able to look at everyone and think 'maybe I'm not as peculiar as I once was'.

"At the moment it feels great to be here. There's a lot more to see and do in London and that appeals to me. But don't get me wrong, I also like to sit in on a Saturday night watching X-Factor and Match of the Day. But I have an amazing opportunity at QPR to live in a great city and start a family here. Life's good."

Twitter - his 568,000 followers are increasing by the day - has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Barton's image from a dysfunctional wild-child to a man more thoughtful and erudite. His regular retweets of Nietzsche and George Orwell has freed Barton to distance himself from his chequered past.

"Twitter has helped people see the real me," he adds. "The football pitch is our stage but it's not a true reflection of who I am as a man.

"It also allows me to talk absolute crap at times and people seem to find that interesting. I don't know why they tune in but they do.

"Tabloid propaganda is all fans had to base their opinions on in the past and I've been typecast as the 'badie'.

"A lot of it was down to my own stupidity but Twitter allows me the right to reply and opens up a more human side to who I really am."

Following the London riots, Barton even used the social media platform to reveal his views on reform and accountability and has urged the Prime Minister to join up.

"I actually quite like David Cameron but what's he got to lose by joining Twitter? It would be good for him to be at the forefront of technology and able to listen to what people are saying.

"I agree with his theory of the smaller society taking care of the big society but we as a city and a nation have to be more accountable to one another - and that includes the Prime Minister.

"The riots highlighted a demand for a better society and increased accountability. There's a lot of social unrest, people unhappy with how this once great country is being run and whether they're getting a fair shake of it. But is the answer to loot and riot? I don't think so.

"It started off with people leaving colleges and universities and not having a future that was as bright as it once was. Cameron's Government has to do something about it. They're employed by the people, for the people, as a representation of the people - so they should get out there and interact with them.

"If I was a politician I'd be out there speaking to people and working out how I can make things better.

"We're too concerned with how America and the EU perceive us. People are still going to want to trade with Britain but we need to get exporting more."

The footballer's ability to articulate views on current affairs is refreshing and it's easy to see why the political undertones of the work of graffiti artist Banksy, whose work now hangs in Barton's library after he paid £6,000 at a charity auction in Kensal Green this month, appeals to him.

Barton is now at the peak of his powers on the pitch. The last two years have seen him produce some of the best football of his career - he was player of the year at Newcastle last season - prompting suggestions Fabio Capello should consider Barton for an England call-up.

"It would be great to play for England again," says Barton, who won his lone England cap against Spain under Steve McClaren in 2007. "I feel really sharp, as I should do having just turned 29 and I'm enjoying my football.

"I think I'll play until I'm about 38 or 40 because my game is not based on pace or power, it's all about knowledge of football and manipulating the ball. So I'm confident I can play for a long time. If I decide to coach or manage in the future, it would be quite prudent to have experienced a different culture or philosophy of football. Or even just experiencing how the approach changes when you manage players from different backgrounds or cultures.

"If the opportunity arose to play abroad in the future I'd definitely consider it."

But right now Barton is looking forward to at least four years in the capital and further trips to London's finest cultural hotspots. After a recent visit to the National Gallery, he admits that Monet is his favourite artist but remains fascinated by the madness of Vincent van Gogh.

"Van Gogh was clearly off his barnet but, as Nietzsche says, 'You have to have chaos within to give birth to a shining star'. Having said that, I think I could have done some of van Gogh's paintings myself."